The 1994 United States House of Representatives election (also known as the Republican Revolution) was held on November 8, 1994, in the middle of PresidentBill Clinton's first term. As a result of a 54-seat swing in membership from Democrats to Republicans, the Republican Party gained a majority of seats in the United States House of Representatives for the first time since 1952 and a majority of votes for the first time since 1946. It was also the largest seat gain for the Republican Party since 1946, and the largest for either party since 1948.

The Democrats had run the House since 1954, and since 1932 there had only been 4 years when the House was under GOP control. But in 1994 the Republican Party ran against President Clinton's proposed healthcare reform[3], benefited from impressions of corruption created by the Whitewater investigation, and picked up a majority of voters who had voted for Ross Perot in 1992. The Republicans argued that Clinton had abandoned the centrist New Democrat platform he campaigned on during the 1992 Presidential election and reverted to big government solutions. The GOP ran on Newt Gingrich's Contract with America.

The incumbent Speaker, Democrat Tom Foley, lost re-election in his district, becoming the first Speaker of the House to lose re-election since Galusha Growin 1862.[4] Other major upsets included the defeat of powerful long-serving Representatives such as Democratic Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski and Democratic Judiciary Chairman Jack Brooks. In all, 34 incumbents (all Democrats) were defeated. Republicans also won the seats of retiring Democrats. Democrats won four Republican-held seats where the incumbents were stepping down. No Republican incumbent lost his or her seat in these elections.

The incumbent Republican Minority whip, Newt Gingrich, was re-elected in the Republican landslide and became Speaker as the incumbent Republican Minority Leader, Robert H. Michel, retired. The incumbent Democratic Majority Leader, Dick Gephardt, became Minority Leader. The new House leadership, under the Republicans, promised to bring a dozen legislative proposals to a vote in the first 100 days of the session, although the Senate did not always follow suit. A significant realigning election, the South underwent a drastic transformation. Before the election, House Democrats outnumbered House Republicans in the South. Afterwards, with the Republicans having picked up a total of 19 Southern seats, they were able to outnumber Democrats in the South for the first time since Reconstruction.[5] The Republicans would go on to remain the majority party of the House for the following 12 years, until the 2006 elections.

Evangelicals were an important group within the electorate and a significant voting block in the Republican party. The national exit poll by Mitofsky International showed 27% of all voters identified themselves as a born-again or evangelical Christians, up from 18% in 1988 and 24% in 1992. Republican House candidates outpolled Democrats among white evangelicals by a massive 52 points, 76% to 24%.[6]

According to a survey sponsored by the Christian Coalition, 33 percent of the 1994 voters were "religious conservatives," up from 24 percent in 1992 and 18 percent in 1988 (CQ Weekly Report), November 19, 1994, p. 3364; in the 1994 exit poll, 38 percent identified themselves as "conservatives," compared with 30 percent in 1992.[7]